Thermal Properties of a 5G Telecom Equipment Casing Design for Noise Suppression

Sammanfattning: Around the world the implementation of the 5G mobile network is under way. With this latest generation of mobile data transfer comes many advantages compared to the previous generations. One tradeoff however is the reduced range of the transmitting radios due to the higher frequencies of the signal. One way to solve this is to place smaller radios closer to where the user is. This work studies one such radio and since it is cooled by fans and meant to be placed close to where people live and reside it is favorable to be able to reduce the noise transmitted to its surrounding. This work has therefor developed a proof of concept for a noise suppressing casing that accommodates three radios in order to reduce the total A-weighted sound power level that reaches its surrounding. This was done by using ducts with micro-perforated plates (MPPs) as a sound dampening element. To assist in the design process as well as to verify that placing the radios inside the casing did not raise the temperature of the radio’s component beyond acceptable levels a CFD-simulation was performed. The results of the CFD-simulations were also verified using an experiment where the radio’s temperature was recorded during different fan speeds. When measured, the casing lowered the total A-weighted sound power level of three radios by between 11.6 dB(A) and 14.2 dB(A) depending on the fan speed. The result of the thermal experiment show that the temperature was raised by between 2.8 °C and 5.9 °C depending on the fan speed, with higher fan speeds showing less difference when compared to the radio’s standalone performance. The results are deemed to show promise for the future use of casings fitted with Micro-perforated plates being used to reduce the noise transmitted by telecom radios.